This invention relates to pellet dryers of the general kind shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,045 issued July 29, 1969, in which plastic pellets, delivered from an underwater pelletizer or the like are separated from the entraining water and dried. Such dryers commonly employ a generally cylindrical housing or chamber, the walls of which are at least partially formed of screening material, and a pellet lifting rotor mounted within the interior of the chamber. The rotor includes lifting paddles or vanes about the rotor periphery which are set at an angle to impart to the pellets a rotary and lifting motion, and at the same time sending the pellets with some centrifugal force against the screen, to separate water from the surface of the pellets. Such dryers also commonly provide for air flow into the interior of the rotor, with openings in the rotor which permit the air to contact the pellets. The pellets are thus lifted by the rotary vane structure to an upper portion of the housing where they are expelled through an outlet opening. The water is commonly collected at the bottom of the housing and extracted through a drain.
From time to time it is necessary to clean out the rotor structure, the enclosing housing, and the overall case or cabinet. This is particularly required whenever it is desired to make a change in the material which is being pelletized, such as where the grade, quality, and/or color of the material is being changed. In such instances, it is thus necessary to open and/or remove panels and access doors in the housing, to provide access for cleaning up and removing existing pellets which may be captured or entrained within pockets or corners, or stuck in the screens. A considerable down time is experienced in such clean out operations due to the relative inaccessibility to the rotating components as well as to the full interior of the enclosing cabinet.